"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
~ Jesus, Mark 1:15
"Repentance is not a once-in-a-lifetime decision, but a life-stance for the Christ-follower."
~ Me, in my Week of Awe journal yesterday morning
(You can listen to the message or read it.)
The first movement is Repentance (followed by Prayer and Charity).
Let me share a bit more on Repentance.
Just the word "repentance" probably carries some baggage.
You might think of guys wearing a sandwich board talking about the end of the world and the wickedness of society, standing outside of Walmart with a megaphone. I'm not knocking the guy. Gid might can certainly use him. But he may have freaked out a few people.
But the truth is, no matter how we may have distorted it's true meaning, repentance is a beautiful gift from God. Just read the story of the Lost Son.
Everyday, with every decision, we are showing we are content with God, or we are walking down paths that lead us away from God. Everyday we may walk down the path of selfishness, of lust, of greed, of pride, of anger, of doubt...
But every time we stray we can immediately repent.
During the week of awe I hope we are converted to a lifetime of repentance. That each day, like the lost son, we will come to our senses and return to God, where we will be received with open arms, embraced as true sons and daughters, and afterwards enjoy a divine feast of mercy, grace and love that overwhelms our souls.
We won't know God's love, we won't know the freedom of God's love, until we learn true repentance. And once we get a taste of repentance, we won't ever want to break the flow of God's love. We'll get hooked on repentance. Because the moment we come to God with a broken and contrite heart, the moment we come to Him poor in spirit, we take hold of the kingdom, and we'll never want to let go!
'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty.
~ Zechariah 1:3
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